To use the track, " Hate This Part" by the Pussycat Dolls requires permission from the record label, Interscope. We have produced and created an email asking for consent to use the song for STRICTLY educational purposes.We have also print screened the page where we have attached the email to, in order to show that we have sent the document to Interscope Records.
Dear Copyright Holder,
We are A Level students requesting your permission to use Pussycat Dolls track ‘Hate This Part’.
With your consent, the track would be used in our current A2 level Media Studies project, which consists of creating a music video, including an album cover and a magazine advert for our new and upcoming artist. The artist featured in my video will not be using the Pussycat Dolls name, as we will be creating a new marketing strategy for an up and coming artist.
If we receive your permission, this track would ONLY be used in an educational context and will be viewed by my media class, my teacher and the OCR exam board moderator. It would NOT be used for any financial purposes or gain, neither the institution or intend to make any profit out of using your artist’s track.
The artist and your record company will be fully acknowledged throughout the pre-production stage and the final video itself. A copyright worded notice, provided by you can be incorporated in the records of the project. If this is required, please send full details to us.
Both myself and Khushel decided that we wanted to get to grips with some of the equipment that we were unable to use in AS level Media Studies, such as, a green screen. As part of our music video research and inital ideas we decided to learn how to use this piece of high tech equipment, including how to set it up, making sure the lighting hit it appropriately and then learning how to import the footage onto 'Final Cut Express' where we removed the colour and chose a New York City backdrop at night; to show audiences how a green screen special effect can be achieved.
Robyn Rihanna Fenty, better known as the Barbadian RnB recording artist ‘Rihanna’ was born on the 20th February 1988 in Saint Michael, Barbados. Rihanna decided to move to the United States when she was just sixteen years of age in order for her to pursue a recording career. Shortly after her move to the US she auditioned with Jay-Z’s record label ‘Def Jams Recordings’ which she passed and signed a contract with.
Rihanna is now a celebrity who sets the trend and leads the fashion scene via the many styles she has had over her years an RnB artist. Throughout her career Rihanna has gone through three major style transformations so far: the sun kissed island beauty, the dark rock n roll chick and the most recent red-haired bombshell.
Sun Kissed Island Beauty look.
Dark Rock and Roll Chick
Red-Haired Bombshell.
Rihanna’s first single was named ‘Pon de replay’ which came from her first album ‘Music of the Sun’ where she showed off her island moves and similar clothing to this genre. Her clothing included bright, colourful tops and crop tops, trainers, boyfriend jeans which all resembled that of a bubbly, lively teenage girl. Her iconography during this time was her natural beauty and showing off her Barbadian background to her audiences.
At 0:31 in 'Umbrella'
Upon the release of her most famous and most popular single ‘Umbrella’ which came from her next album ‘Good Girl Gone bad’ Rihanna’s iconography completely transformed and shocked audiences across the globe as she unleashed herself as a new artist with a more risk taking style. She started to wear edgier, rock chick clothing which consisted of outfits such as leather, studs and even a risky new black cropped haircut. The once bubbly island girl had suddenly grown up and become a girl who now appeared to have way more style and was someone who was perhaps seen as a girl who was rebellious and mischievous. Rihanna explained to her audiences that her decision to change her style was merely because she felt that the genre characteristic of her album’s continued to change so it was only right that she would change her iconography alongside her music album. For me, the video that displays Rihanna’s more edgy, rebellious look is in her hit single ‘Umbrella’ where she opts to wear leather, biker jackets and dark clothing in order to portray herself in a new light.
While Rihanna’s style was originally darkened before, it began to morph into that of a trendy artist as began to wear eccentric outfits such as her Michael Jackson denim jacket which she matched with a with a white bandage leotard during one of her performances. She also decided to change the colour and style of her hair again by dying it blonde and cutting the sides of it in order to compliment her fashion edginess.
With the release of her newest album ‘Loud’ Rihanna has also appeared with a brand new look which has brought on the bright red hair and her more feminine style. With the release of her new album she has began to perform more power ballads which audiences had never seen on her previous albums, these being: ‘Californian Dream Bed’ and ‘Man Down.’Recently she has started to wear clothing such as floral prints, colourful accessories that are exactly what is expected during this summer and winter seasons. She has also started to wear longer, prettier dresses, some of which have been coloured deep red to match her hair colour.
It has become noticeable that she has slowly started to transform her fashion image back to the bodycon look from when she first appeared onto the music scene a few years back.
Her new and current image is outgoing and eccentric yet still resembles that of a cute, good girl. Rihanna has taken sections from her previous styles and incorporated each of these into her new transformation enabling her to look more expressive and frivolous. Her newest look seems to be the best yet and reflects what a happy, successful artist Rihanna is.
In many of Rihanna's music video she showcases herself as being confident, sassy, cheeky and often a bit promiscuous. Rihanna isn’t afraid to show off who she is an artist and is never scared to act edgier and different. She likes to keep her fans talking about her. For instance, in Rihanna’s video “Don’t stop the music,” she comes across extremely confident and depicts herself as having a lot of fun as she dances along to her song with her friends in a club scene which is depicted here.
Additionally, she portrays herself as also being a bit flirty and promiscuous when she is seen lying down on top of a table whilst flaunting her body to the camera attempting to engage her audience.
She then goes on to sit upright still facing the camera whilst singing straight into it whilst reaching out her arms towards the camera, using a hand gesture which suggests that she is asking people to come towards her.
Evidently, Rihanna gives off a seductive look in these scenes emphasising her sexuality.Her image is being used to address her target audience and to draw them in. Again, her seductive look also appeals to her audience (Male Gaze.)
In another of Rihanna’s videos “Rude Boy,” critics claimed that this video projects a dominant female image that is exactly what is needed for this video. Clearly, Rihanna presents herself confidently in this video as she is seen dancing alone and is depicted sitting on top of both a stuff lion and zebra, perhaps illustrating her authority which is shown here.
Furthermore, lyrically the song is quite promiscuous and a bit shocking as she sings, “come here rude boy, boy, can you get it up, come here rude boy, boy, is you big enough…” which she matches with promiscuous scenes in her video. For example, in one shot she is seen bending over in a pair of hot pants against her male friend/potential boyfriend and in another shot she is depicted opening up the males trousers looking down as she sings “is you big enough,’ clearly leaving little to the imagination about what she is looking down at.
Overall, Rihanna is a successful artist who continues to suprise her fans via the many different ways that she portrays herself throughout her music videos. Whilst, some of her videos may portray her as confident and sassy, and others a little promiscuous we still continue to support and love her and look forward to her next video releases.
Avril Lavigne is a Canadian singer-songwriter whose music consists of messages of self empowerment from a female or a young person’s view. Avril quotes, “songs are about being yourself no matter what and going after your dreams even if your dreams are crazy and even if people tell you they’re never going to come true.”
Her hit single “Girlfriend,” was released as the lead single from her upcoming album ‘The Best Damn Thing.’ The lyrics revolve around the protagonist having a crush on another girl’s boyfriend, declaring that she should be his girlfriend.
I have chosen to use this song as a possible track idea for my music video as it is upbeat enabling a variety of different and fast paced editing ideas to be used, whilst perhaps incorporating a choreographed dance sequence to go along with the fast tempo track.
However, there is a downside of using this upbeat song, which is that because the beat of the song is so fast it could be quite difficult to mark out each beat of the song in order to edit the video and change the shots efficiently making cutting very challenging. Therefore, this could result in having shots edited which do not go in sync with the song.
Additionally, by using this song as a possible track choice, this track could have the potential to be aired across radio stations such as Kiss 100 and being broadcasted across music channels such as MTV.
2. Signed artist: The Pussycat Dolls
Genre: Pop and R&B
Potential song: I Hate This Part
The Pussycat Dolls are an American pop and R&B girl group and dance ensemble based in Los Angeles. However, the group have now split up in order for Nicole Scherzinger, Kimberly Wyatt and other members of the group to pursue their own solo careers. Their song “I hate this part,” is taken from their second album ‘Doll Domination’ and according ‘The Sun’ this song was recognized as the albums best number.
Nicole explained to audiences that this song was one whereby they wanted to “explore all different emotional sides of this song in making this video.” ‘I hate this part’ is about a person who knows that their relationship is over, and needs to end it, which is the hardest part and the part they hate.
This song is a pop and R&B track sounding much like what we like to hear in the charts today. By choosing this song as a possible track for my music video, it opens the door to many editing and special effect ideas as the track is quite a slow song with sections of the chorus becoming fast paced. This song is a clever track to use in order for me to display some of the skills that I have picked up on and learnt over the last two years of my course, that is, using wire-framing and displaying two shots on top of each other by blending them together to create a shadowed effect. Additionally, I thought that by choosing this song I could decide if I wanted to, to use a narrative storyline through some of the verses of the song displaying the breakdown of a couple’s relationship with perhaps opening the door to a dance performance when the song becomes upbeat.
The only disadvantage of this track is that because the song was recognized as being the albums best number it could be difficult to re-invent this song in order to make it my own and I could find difficulties in promoting this to a wider target audience, that is, people aged between 13-29. Additionally, another problem I may be faced with is the fact that because sections of the song are fairly slow and the beat of the song isn’t very fast paced, I would need to ensure that the shots which depict the emotion between the girlfriend and her boyfriend come across as being interesting rather than dull and boring, resulting in losing my audiences attention. My aim would be to engage the audience’s full attention with an aspect of exploring the emotional sides of this song as well as incorporating a fun and enjoyable performance to watch as well.
3. Signed artist: Leona Lewis
Genre: Dance-Pop, R&B and Soul
Potential song: I Hate This Part
Leona Lewis is a British singer and songwriter who first came to fame when she won the third series of ‘The X-Factor’ in 2006. Her hit song ‘Forgive Me’ is featured on her debut album ‘Spirit.’ The track is an R&B, dance pop and soul song and lyrically refers to a girl who has found new love and is asking for forgiveness to her old love.
The single received many positive reviews for music critics, in fact the BBC quoted, “Forgive me is a danceable funky pop song” whilst another critic said that the song showcases her voice of ‘fire and honey’ and the track is ‘bouncy and youthful.’
I chose this track because I believe that there is a lot that I could do with the song as it is original. Additionally, what appealed to me most about this song is that I reckon I could make the video potentially creative and different using a variety of performance, concept and narrative styles. Again, because this song is exceedingly upbeat and consists of a fast tempo it would make it easier to make out the beats within the song especially when wanting the edit the necessary footage for my video. Furthermore, the beat of the song changes and speeds up in each of the chorus’s and speeds up further in the final chorus of the song allowing a lot of fast paced editing and efficient dance scenes and performances to be incorporated into these specific sections of the song.
By using this song as a possible track choice, this track could have the potential to be aired across many radio stations such as Kiss 100, Smash Hits etc and being broadcasted across music channels such as MTV, The Box, 4MUSIC and VIVA.
4. Signed artist: Jennifer Lopez
Genre: Dance-Pop
Potential song: Papi
The song ‘Papi’ is sung by American recording artist Jennifer Lopez which is taken from her seventh album ‘Love.’ Lyrically, this song revolves around Lopez’s love to dance and perform around lots of men all over the city after she eats a mysterious love cookie.
This song was leaked on Lopez’s facebook page and wasn’t meant to be released until later on in the year, however due to positive reviews from music critics stating that this song is one of the highlights from her album ‘Love’ her record company decided to promote the track and release a video for it. The opening melody of this song has been previously incorporated into her dance-breakdown scene in another music video for Lopez’s second single, “I’m into you.”
‘Papi’ is a Latin and electro flavoured, up tempo, dance-pop song whereby the melody is motivated by loud, fast, beating drums. The loudness and frequent beat of the drum throughout the song would come in handy for me when editing the video as it would allow me to clearly establish where the beat changes in the song so that I could mark this out. By marking out each individual beat on the timeline of the track, this will enable me to edit the footage I have shot sufficiently and mix each of the shots about in order to make the video more dramatic, exciting and exhilarating, hopefully engaging the audiences full attention. For me, I would probably decide to film this video as a performance and concept video as the song appears to reflect that of a club song – so I believe that it would be appropriate to film scenes of the artist dancing in a club or at a party, whilst still incorporating a variety of shots whereby the artist performs into the camera singing.
A downside of using a fast paced song is that since the beat of the song is so fast it may become difficult to mark out each beat of the song in order to edit the video and change the shots efficiently making cutting very challenging. Therefore, this could result in having shots edited which do not go in sync with the song and could jump cut between shots two quickly causing the audience to lose their focus and not understand what is going on as they won’t be able to properly grasp the content of the video.
Additionally, by just having the video consist of predominantly performances, this might in fact bore the audience as they might become uninterested in the artist and lose their focus. Perhaps a way of making this video more successful would be to have a think of other options which could be incorporated into the video such as special effects or a small narrative scene which could be added to make the video more appealing to our target audience, that is, 13-29.
However, because this song reflects that of a club track, it would probably only engage those aged between 17-24 which would have been to narrow of an audience for us. Clearly, we wanted to choose a track that would engage and draw in a wider audience whereby the song would appeal to them and would target the audience that we are trying to reach out to, that is, 13-29.
Knock You Down – Keri Hilson ft Ne-Yo and Kanye West:
The video that I am going to deconstruct using Goodwin’s points is Keri Hilson’s ‘Knock You Down’ featuring Ne-Yo and Kanye West due to the fact that this video illustrates genre characteristics, relationships between lyrics and visuals and it is a narrative video which tells the story of how a girl feels after being hurt by her partner. I chose this video to analyse as there are some special effects and editing transitions that I am hoping to incorporate and replicate myself.
1. Music Video demonstrates genre characteristics:
Throughout this music video there are several references made depicting the genre characteristic of the song, however the most powerful and significant image which displays this, is when the video reaches 2:17. This is when Keri is illustrated dancing and flaunting her body to the camera in time with the beat. She is exemplified dancing in a way whereby her moves are sharp, strong and sexy. The dancing that the singer performs in her music video clearly portrays an element of hip-hop and electropop which are the genre characteristics of her video.
2. There is a relationship between lyrics and visuals:
In this video there is a distinct relationship between lyrics and visuals as they are amplified. This is depicted at 1:23 when Keri sings “You knocked me down,” as the camera focuses on Keri and shows her body floating in the air as she slowly begins to fall down on top of her bed illustrating that she has been ‘knocked down.’ Additionally, they do the same for the lyric, “I used to be commander in chief,” as Ne-Yo raises his hand to his head doing the salute sign that commanders and sergeants did to show respect to one another. Clearly, visuals and lyrics work exceptionally well together here.
At 1:23 - "You knocked me down."
At 2:01 - "I used to be commander in chief."
3. There is relationship between music and visuals:
The video begins with a very slow, quite sound being played in the background of the scene to depict that Keri is dreaming and is not conscious. During this time, we also here Keri say “this shouldn’t happen to me,” suggesting that she has just come round from her dream. However, seconds later the music suddenly increases and gets louder as the beat becomes stronger and faster, resembling what might be a base drum as it overpowers the mellow, quite tune that was originally heard at the beginning of the video. When the beat suddenly speeds up, the camera shots and images also speed up according to the individual beat of the song. This goes together well with the bright, colourful images, that is, close up’s of Keri Hilson and Kanye West’s face. Music and visuals also work together nicely in the video.
At 0:23
At 0:43
4. The demands of the record label will include the need of lots of close up’s of the artist and the artist might develop motifs which recur across their work.
Keri Hilson, Kanye West and Ne-Yo are each represented as being the main stars of the video. They are each represented by the use of close ups of their face which allows the audience to feel as though they can connect with them as they are able to feed off their facial expressions and emotions. Certain close up’s depict an artists charisma, confidence, attractiveness as they stare into the camera providing the audience with their full attention and with a warm, gentle smile.
At 1:00
At 2:45
5. There is often intertextual reference (to films, TV programmes, other music videos)
There are quite a few intertextual references made in this music video, these being the opening credits at the beginning of the music video as it displays the name of the single and the names of the three singers staring and singing in the video. This is similar to films openings as during the beginning of the film the credits will appear on screen displaying the names of the actors and actresses followed by the title of the film. Furthermore, at 2:25 Ne-Yo sings “Miss Independent,” which is the name of his previous single. This is another intertextual reference as he is referring back to his earlier single and promoting it through this song so people will still go out and buy it.
Mohombi’s single Dirty Situation features Akon in the song and is said to fit into the dancehall, reggae and pop genre.
This is the first shot in the music video and I believe that it is a fantastic shot for the reason that it clearly shows the audience the setting of where Dirty Situation is being filmed and allows them to view the entire landscape and get a feel as to where the music video is going to occur.
Notice how not only is this a close up but it is also a reaction shot letting the audience view the singers expressions so that they are able to gain a better understanding as to who the singer is and what he is about. Additionally, depending on the singer’s reaction it also makes the audience wonder what it is that he is looking at for him to have that expression, making the audience more inclined to sit back and watch the remainder of the video to find out.
This particular shot has to be one of my favourites as it is an aerial shot or birds eye view shot, which is an extremely high angle shot of a subject which is taken from overhead sometimes using a crane with a camera attached to it that is used for a clear view and often used to emphaize the people in the video. Clearly, the dancers and the main singer in the video are emphaize dancing in a mini dance off between the different genders.
This shot is an extreme close up focusing on a female dancer’s stomach. It has been said that by using close up’s on different parts of a females body this will help to sell the product as it will capture audiences attention hence why in this music video, the camera will often focus on the dancers legs and stomach.
Jason Derulo’s Don’t Wanna Go Home is an up-tempo electropop and dance pop tune. The song explains how Derulo is in a club/bar where he is enjoying the time of his life and having lots of fun and doesn’t want to leave or go home yet.
In this frame the directors have decided to use an extreme long shot here, allowing the audience to be made aware of everything that is taking place on stage, that is, the singer, the set decorations and the extra’s starring in the video. By using this technique it allows the audience to feel as though they are part of the video as they are able to view certain scenarios from every angle possible.
This is another great shot to use in music videos, that is, a tracking shot. Tracking shots are used so that the camera can physically move along a track in order to follow an action or reveal a scene that is taking place. In this frame Jason is being tracked as he dancers through the club, allowing the audience to observe him and watch him as he moves about.
These two shots happen to be my favourite in the entire video for the reason that at one moment in the video the camera changes to a close up focusing on Jason and his female accomplice dancing, permitting the audience to view there reactions. Whilst a second later the frame changes to a long shot depicting the couple dancing alongside one another. What makes these shots even more fantastic is the fact that the shots continually change from a close up to a long shot every time the beat is heard in the song.
(At 1:41)
(At 1:41/2)
Again, this shot is another brilliant shot as it is similar to the first one, that is, an extreme long shot, permitting the audience to be made attentive of the events that are taking place on stage; that is, the singer and his back up dancers. By using this technique it allows the audience to feel as though they are part of the video as the camera captures every angle of the scene that the audience would like to see.
This is a really simple yet interesting shot due to the fact that even though it is a close up, the shot draws attention to Jason and his facial expression and reaction as he stares into the camera. Additionally, it illustrates how he is the protagonist in the video and all eyes should be on him.
Avril Lavigne’s video Girlfriend takes on a rap-driven style as its genre characteristic. The song revolves around its main character, Avril, as having a crush on someone who is currently in a relationship, declaring to him that she should be his girlfriend. Throughout the music video, Avril adopts three alter egos’ all of which end up fighting over the same guy.
(Alter Ego 1 at 0:12)
(Alter Ego 2 at 0:20)
(Alter Ego 3 at 0:29)
I particularly liked this camera shot due to the fact that although the audience are able to view three people standing in the frame, the person whose attention is most visible is the dark haired girl, due to the fact that she has been made the focal point in this shot and her behaviour also allows her to be made the centre of attention. Notice how even though the dark haired girl is the main character in this shot, the camera still picks up the other female character and her male partner, providing the audience with a bit of room to see who the other characters in the video are and to get to know them a little better.
This is another interesting, yet simple shot to film as the directors have decided to use an extreme long shot here, allowing the audience to be made aware of everything that is taking place on stage, that is, the singer, her guitarist, her drummer and the set decorations. This allows the audience to feel as though they are part of the video as they are able to view certain scenarios from every angle and direction.
This frame happens to be my favourite as whilst the shot is a medium shot, the frame and lighting techniques capture the scene brilliantly. All eyes are on the main protagonist, Avril and her back up dancers. What appeals to me most, is that the darkened lighting surrounding the remainder of the screen might suggest that there is a bit of a mystery and a slight mischievous side to the character, perhaps also suggesting that she likes to be in the limelight.
This shot clearly sets the setting and explains more of the story to the audience. The shot not only highlights how the dark haired girl is trying to steal away the boyfriend of the ginger girl, but it provides the audience with the opportunity to view the characters expressions. Allowing the audience to gain a really in depth analysis of how some of the characters might be feeling regarding the scene that is currently taking place.
Below this video is screen grabs that I have taken from the music video which I believe to be the most fascinating, attention grabbing shots that make this video fun to watch and an exceptional work of art – some of which I hope to incorporate into my own music video when it comes to filming.
